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Macaron Tutorial

Monday, October 26, 2009

I am always amazed when stores start displaying Halloween merchandise in August. A part of me grunts "don't rush it people! Enjoy the rest of the summer!" while I secretly start to giggle at the prospect of gobblins and witches knocking at the door on Halloween night. Halloween is not part of our rituals where I am from. We honor the departed the day after, usually with a trip to church and a visit to the cemetary. That's heavy when you're a kid. Even if kids here only think of dressing up, I am much too happy to oblige in their "Trick Or Treat". I am even happier to make a couple of inspired Halloween treats for us, like these Taffy Crabapples.

Ever since Bill welcomed me home with a basket of crabapples upon returning from San Francisco, I have had it in my head to make little taffy crabapples. When I got an email from Brooke from Tongue And Cheeky asking me if I wanted to be part of her Trick or TrEat project, I jumped on the occasion. Not that I need an excuse to make up for Halloweens past and I certainly don't need an excuse to play with caramel.

What is Trick or TrEat? Well, today, nine favorite food, craft and lifestyle bloggers await behind nine haunted houses with an array of holiday treats created just for you. At the end of this post, you will find two of these mystery houses. To join in the holiday fun, simply click on one of the buttons and you’ll be linked to the next home on the block. You can also discover all of the Trick-Or-TrEat contributors and find direct links to their posts on the Trick Or TrEat website.

We did get a bonus Halloween moment the day after I made these. The humidity and heat in South Carolina caused the taffy to bubble up, giving the crabapples an unflattering pustular look. I thought that was pretty hilarious and decided to tuck at one just to see how the taffy coating would react. It opened up like a pretty wrapper and revealed the crabapple inside giving me the perfect photo op. Who would have thought? I guess that's Halloween: you never know what is really around the corner!

Will I be nice witch or a wicked one on Halloween night? Ahahahah! Happy Halloween!

Whose houses are next to visit on the block? Check after the jump!

This is a great recipe to get the kids involved in the kitchen with you. Do prepare the taffy coating yourself (there is hot caramel and bubbling action there) but let them dip the apples and play with shaking them to let the extra caramel coating drip off. If the stems of the apples are too short or too flimsy, stab a lollipop stick right at the stem and dip. I left the taffy crabapples plain, but you can certainly roll them in chopped nuts, chopped chocolate, nonpareils, etc...

Line a bkaing sheet with either some slightly greased parchment paper or a silpat. Set aside.Place the sugar in a heavy bottom saucepan set over medium high heat. Slowly let the sugar melt and turn into caramel. This method is called a dry caramel and can be a bit tricky. If you are not comfortable with it, add up to 1/4 cup water to your saucepan and slowly bring the sugar to caramel color.Standing back a bit, carefully add the butter, heavy cream and salt. Do not worry, it will bubble like mad. When the bubbling slows down, stir the mixture until smooth.Carefully dip the crabapples into the hot taffy and twirl them above the pan to let the excess drip off. Place the dipped apples onto your prepared baking sheet and let set.

To see what other Trick-Or-TrEat hosts have cooked up for your viewing pleasure, click on the links at the bottom of the house drawings, not the houses themselves.

Lovely!! I wanted to do crabapples - love the tartness with the sweet coating - but we had early snow and freezing at the beginning of October, and all my apples froze right on the tree! Then turned to mush as they thawed. Boo!!

These are much too cute! I don't even know if there are crabapples here in Brazil, but I did see them in England last month. They are so tiny and yummy and you've taken them to a whole new level, Helen - a level of deliciousness. ;)

Ooo..this recipe sounds perfect. Our farmer's market last Saturday had some darling crabapples and I wasn't sure what to do with them. They were a bit tart but I bet with the taffy they would be perfect. Thank you so much for the post. Carrie

Very nice job Helen... I'm not positive I've ever seen a crabapple! They're so cute! I did a caramel apple recently- my first time. I don't really like to eat them, but making them was fun. Beautiful, fun photos!

I wish the kids around here still trick or treated... last year a total of 3 children came knocking. And giving out homemade treats doesn't work here, the parents never let them have something that isn't prepackaged. Which is sad because those look like the perfect thing.

Helen - these are beautiful!I am curious what makes them taffy apples instead of caramel apples.Where I am from taffy is a softer candy in between a marshmallow and carmael intexture, and flavored with all sorts of things. Often pastel rainbow colors.

So fun! This makes me want to skip on home and steal some crabapples off the tree in the front of my parents' yard. And I can't explain why, but I love that last photo. It's very different from your usual style.

Those little crab apples look adorable! All I can think about when I see them is how my brothers would pick baskets of them (from our tree) and then wait for me to walk outside and chase me around the yard and pelt them at me...hahaha.

Halloween is not really big here although it becomes more of a 'thing' lately but still having halloween in the stores in August is probably not gonna happen.. :) I love these little caramel apples! Gorgeous!

Wow! I once wrote a comment on Jen's blog saying that I found your blog intimidating because everything looks soo pretty, but I think I will make those cute caramel apples with my 6-year-old daughter. Here in Mexico we celebrate "el dia de los muertos" on the 1st and 2nd of November with some special bread (pan de muerto) and decorated altars and we remember loved ones who have passed away by cooking their favourite meals. Happy Halloween!

The first shot, the hand holding the apple, is to me, a thing of beauty and I just thought you should know. It stopped me in my tracks... beautiful capture, and beautiful apples! There are so many inspiring creative people in the food blog world, what feast for the eyes!

Those are so adorable! I just saw crab apples at the farmer's market last weekend and was so curious to know what they taste like. I hope they still have some when I go back so I can get a couple. This is the perfect size for caramel apples because I always end up eating just a fourth of them.

These are really beautiful. I've been on an apple kick since they came into season and made my first batch of honey caramel apples. The didn't look so nice as these so I'm going to take some notes. (I did however make a steller apple bacon cheddar sandwich!)